Supernatural
The concept of the supernatural proposes that something cannot be explained by scientific understanding or the laws of nature. Examples often include characteristics of or relating to entities and concepts such as ghosts, angels, gods, souls and spirits, non-material beings, or anything else considered beyond nature like magic or miracles. Over time, things once thought to be supernatural such as lightning, seasons, and human senses have been shown to have entirely naturalistic explanations and origins. Some believe that which is considered supernatural will someday be discovered to be completely physical and natural. Those who believe only the physical world exists are called naturalists. Those who believe similarly often maintain skeptical attitudes and beliefs concerning supernatural concepts. Belief in the supernatural can also occur in secular contexts. The supernatural is featured in paranormal, occult, and religious contexts. However, belief in the supernatural can also occur in secular contexts as well. Etymology Occurring as both an adjective and a noun, descendants of the modern English compound supernatural enters the language from two sources: By way of Middle French (supernaturel) and directly from the Middle French's term's ancestor, post-Classical Latin (supernaturalis). Post-classical Latin supernaturalis first occurs in the 6th century, composed of the Latin suffice super-'' and ''nātūrālis, the latter element deriving from Ancient Greek ὑπερϕυής (see nature). The earliest known appearance of the word in the English language occurs in a Middle English translation of Catherine of Siena's Dialogue (orcherd of Syon, around 1425; Þei haue not þanne þe supernaturel lyȝt ne þe liȝt of kunnynge, bycause þei vndirstoden it not). The semantic value of the term has shifted over the history of its use. Originally the term referred exclusively to Christian understandings of the world. For example, as an adjective, the term can mean 'belonging to a realm or system that transcends nature, as that of divine, magical, or ghostly beings; attributed to or thought to reveal some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature; occult, paranormal' or 'more than what is natural or ordinary; unnaturally or extraordinarily great; abnormal, extraordinary'. Obsolete uses include 'of, relating to, or dealing with metaphysics'. As a noun, the term can mean 'a supernatural being', with a particularly strong history of employment in relation to entities from the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Epistemology and metaphysics The metaphysical considerations of the existence of the supernatural can be difficult to approach as an exercise in philosophy or theology because any dependencies on its antithesis, the natural, will ultimately have to be inverted or rejected. One complicating factor is that there is disagreement about the definition of "natural" and the limits of naturalism. Concepts in the supernatural domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality and occultism or spiritualism. |Robert Boyle|''A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature'' }} The term "supernatural" is often used interchangeably with paranormal or preternatural — the latter typically limited to an adjective for describing abilities which appear to exceed what is possible within the boundaries of the laws of physics. Epistemologically, the relationship between the supernatural and the natural is indistinct in terms of natural phenomena that, ex hypothesi, violate the laws of nature, in so far as such laws are realistically accountable. |Michael Winkelman|''Current Anthropology''}} Many supporters of supernatural explanations believe that past, present, and future complexities and mysteries of the universe cannot be explained solely by naturalistic means and argue that it is reasonable to assume that a non-natural entity or entities resolve the unexplained. Views on the "supernatural" vary, for example it may be seen as: * indistinct from nature. From this perspective, some events occur according to the laws of nature, and others occur according to a separate set of principles external to known nature. For example, in Scholasticism, it was believed that God was capable of performing any miracle so long as it didn't lead to a logical contradiction. Some religions posit immanent deities, however, and do not have a tradition analogous to the supernatural; some believe that everything anyone experiences occurs by the will (occasionalism), in the mind (neoplatonism), or as a part (nondualism) of a more fundamental divine reality (platonism). * incorrect human attribution. In this view all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events, such as lightning, rainbows, floods, and the origin of life. History of the concept Dialogues from Neoplatonic philosophy in the third century AD contributed the development of the concept the supernatural via Christian theology in later centuries."The eventual development of a clear concept of the supernatural in Christian theology was promoted both by dialogues with heretics and by the influence of Neoplatonic philosophy." [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/eth.1977.5.1.02a00040/pdf Benson Saler: Supernatural as a Western Category.] Ethos 5 (1977): 44 The term nature had existed since antiquity with Latin authors like Augustine using the word and its cognates at least 600 times in City of God. In the medieval period, "nature" had ten different meanings and "natural" had eleven different meanings. Peter Lombard, a medieval scholastic in the 12th century, asked about causes that are beyond nature, in that how there could be causes that were God's alone. He used the term praeter naturam in his writings. In the scholastic period, Thomas Aquinas classified miracles into three categories: "above nature", "beyond nature", and "against nature". In doing so, he sharpened the distinction between nature and miracles more than the early Church Fathers had done. As a result, he had created a dichotomy of sorts of the natural and supernatural."Saint Thomas's important contribution to the emergence of a technical theology of the supernatural represents a special development of the concept of surpassing effects. Saint Thomas and others of the Scholastics have left us as one of their legacies a dichotomy between the natural and the supernatural that is theologically rooted in the distinction between the Order of Nature and the Order of Grace." [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/eth.1977.5.1.02a00040/pdf Benson Saler: Supernatural as a Western Category.] Ethos 5 (1977): 47–48 Though the phrase supra naturam was used since the 4th century AD, it was in the 1200s that Thomas Aquinas used the term "supernaturalis", however, this term had to wait until the end of the medieval period for it become more popularly used. The discussions on "nature" from the scholastic period were diverse and unsettled with some postulating that even miracles are natural and that natural magic was a natural part of the world. See also * Liberal naturalism * Magical thinking * Non-physical entity * One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, unclaimed prize for anyone demonstrating the supernatural * Paranormal * Preternatural * Religious naturalism References Further reading * * * * * * Category:Supernatural